Her Heart Falls Into Place
by Cerulean Pen
Summary: Charlene wants nothing more then a certain boy…the only problem is he's already in love with someone else…Finn/Charlene


Their Heart Racing Like Rockets

Summary: Charlene wants nothing more then a certain boy…the only problem is he's already in love with someone else…Finn/Charlene

English Romance/Angst Rated: T Chapters:1 Words: Charlene & Finn W.

**Pairings: **Finn/Charlene, I have been converted from a Finnmanda fan, and I now see how much Charlene wants Finn, and, yeah…rambling, sorry, leave a review.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Kingdom Keepers, I wouldn't be writing for them like a desperate fan girl. *Fan girl squeal*

It's midnight.

Charlene lays on her back, her bright blue eyes drilling a metaphorical hole into the ceiling of Willa's living room, the only sounds coming from Willa's iPod (playing "Secrets" by One Republic) and the distant murmur of her oldest brother's TV from his bedroom. Her fingers trace the stitches on her carnation pink sleeping bag, wanting for Willa to ask, just so she could tell someone. If Charlene were to ask, she'd get the same old dreamy rambles about Philby, and she's heard quite enough of that, thank you very much. The suspense is killing her, but she shouldn't get her hopes up, considering Willa isn't typical-sleepover-gossip material.

"Do you like anyone?"

Willa's voice sounds a little distant, dreamy, like she's on the verge of falling asleep, and Charlene grips the vinyl of her sleeping bag, wincing as it slides across her sweaty palms. This is the question, but she never expected it to be this raw, just a cold splash of reality that swirls above her head, keeps her from delivering a proper answer. "I don't like anyone," Charlene whispers, before burying her face into her pillow, hoping Willa will think that she's going to fall asleep. In her mind though, she's laughing, dark hysteria, as flashes of brown hair and blue T-shirts and black remotes fill her mind. Her real answer surfaces above the other thoughts, threatening to spill from her lips.

_"I don't like anyone: I love someone."_

0o0

Graduating ninth grade comes without fanfare, just your certificate for graduating, and the mingled chatters among students who speak of plans to go to Universal Studios, or on luxurious cruises to Jamaica, without a single word about Disney World. Of course, what is Charlene supposed to think, they'll be seniors next year, and seniors don't go to Disney World. Charlene's cheerleading friend, Lily, sits on top of a desk in homeroom, five minutes away from the last bell of the year, kicking off her high heels.

"Any plans for the summer?" Lily asks, possibly the anti-cheerleader-stereotype, with bouncy red curls that she tied back into a ponytail, and olive skin, wearing a tight black dress from their graduation ceremony earlier. Charlene, sprawled over another desk, looks up from her necklace chain she was untangling, shrugging indifferently. "That's okay, the folks want to stay home most of the time, but we might go down to Miami for a few nights."

Charlene places her chin in her hands, elbows resting on the desk top, as the two girls fell silent, their speech filled with others. "Lily, do you have a boyfriend?" she asks, so suddenly, it throws even herself off guard, as Lily turns the lightest shade of pink, smoothing the flared skirt of the dress, retrieving her kicked off high heels.

"To be honest, yeah, Michael Pearson and I have been going out for about two months now," Lily admitted, leaning backwards so that her head rested on the desk, while her bare feet dangled above the linoleum tiles. "We're going to see each other over the summer too, he's in a band, so I can see him in concert. Why did you ask?"

"Just wondering," Charlene quickly answered, tripping over her own words, as she worked up the courage to ask her the question that had been bothering her for weeks on end. "Well, what if you were in love with Michael, but there was another girl already dating him, who just wasn't right for him?" The words are almost bitter in her mouth, but she had to ask, had to see if Lily knew what to do in that kind of situation.

"Well, I'd probably, like, make friends with Michael, then try to expose this girl for what she really was," Lily answered slowly, to Charlene's relief that she actually had an answer instead of a sarcastic reply. "But really, all that kind of stuff is behind us now: we're tenth graders, basically, we're mature women ready to take the world by storm." Immediately, both began to laugh, just as the very last bell rang, a hoard of kids pushing to exit the classroom.

"Yeah, mature women," Charlene echoed wistfully, slinging her pink backpack over her shoulder, as she and Lily made their way to the car rider line, barely even touching the ground for the swarm of kids pushing against them practically lifted them off of the floor. They lean against the brick outside of the high school, talking without a real topic, but Charlene is thinking about her own Michael, and how to expose her "other girl."

0o0

Her parents lifted the "you can't have a boy over" ban during late June, and the first number Charlene dialed was Finn's, only to hang up the moment she pressed the talk button. She couldn't call the boy who was dating…for Charlene, that was almost like flirting with a married man, only worse, because Amanda could pack a mean punch. After at least two hours of pacing, typing in the first three digits of phone numbers, Charlene calls Willa-sure she has a boyfriend, but who really cares at this point?

Willa appears on the front walk ten minutes later, out of breath, parking her bike in the three-car garage, wearing her favorite blue T-shirt, jean shorts, and her purple backpack. Charlene stands on the front porch, her arms wrapped around herself, letting the breeze stir her loose pink skirt. "Water," Willa gasps, as Charlene grins slightly, leading her into the stainless steel kitchen, happy that her parents are downtown today.

"Fizzy or regular?"

"Surprise me."

Charlene grabs a regular water bottle from the refrigerator, as they sit down at the breakfast table, watching with a smile as Willa downs half of the water bottle, swiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "God almighty, why didn't I take the bus?" she laughs good-naturedly, the kind that makes Charlene feel _good, _happy, like she can momentarily forget about the ever-lasting battle between what's right and what's wrong.

"So, I hear you've been having some 'Finn troubles,'" Willa begins, making air quotations with her fingers when they're seated in the living room, Charlene breaking one of the biggest rules in her house: she puts her bare feet on the coffee table. "I've definitely seen it in you, ever since that sleepover at my house, I knew you had been holding out on me, you liked Finn." When Charlene's features visibly darkened, Willa tried to make her voice more cheerful, though it wasn't an easy task. "Cheer up Charlene, you have a chance with Finn."

"But how?" Charlene yells, jumping to her feet and raising her arms, her thick white bracelets jangling, feeling like she's being over-dramatic, although the scream did relieve some of her pent-up stress. "How do I tell a boy I like him when he's already dating someone else?" she asked, softer this time, massaging her temples. "How do I compete with a girl like Amanda? She's got powers, and she's a DHI, _and _she's never had a zit!"

"Neither have you," Willa points out with a wry smile, before putting her arm around Charlene sympathetically, hoping her reply wasn't pessimistic, like her last remarks. "Amanda may be all of those things, but the real question is, is she a good enough girlfriend for Finn? You've been crushing on him since Day One, why don't you just say something to the guy?"

Charlene can't say a word, she's busy trying to picture what a phone call to Finn would be like (hey, dump your girlfriend right this minute, and get your ass over here so I can kiss you.) "Oh yeah, that would go over sooooooo well," she murmured sarcastically, leaning back on the sofa, stretching her soft, bare feet on the coffee table. Another emotion seized her mind, as Charlene felt a thin sheen of tears gloss over her bright blue eyes. "I'm afraid he'll laugh at me."

"Aw, Char…" Willa strokes the soft, pale flesh of Charlene's arm, as she feels chills race up her spine, blinking back the tears, feeling Willa slip the phone into her hands. "I'm right here, it'll be okay, I swear," she adds, "just call Finn, ask him to join us, the worse he can do is say no."

Charlene tries to dial his number, but her fingers slip and slide, and she becomes frustrated, forced to realize remnants of painful memories, of all the times he's seen him smile at Amanda, or laugh, or let her ride on his bike's handlebars, or lace his fingers between hers, it _hurts. _Somewhere between the never-ending images, the phone crashes to the floor, and Willa is rubbing her back, because Charlene now realizes that she's sobbing.

0o0

"You're hurt."

She is. Charlene watches as Finn rolls up the sleeve of her cotton nightgown, both wincing simultaneously at the shards of mirror impaling her flesh through the ruptured material. Something about his fingers brushing her arm just numbs her, sends her nerves into paralytic shock, unable to breathe. _Shouldn't this park have an emergency defibulator?_

Bloods trickles through his fingers, and Charlene is faced with another cold splash of pain, squeezing her eyes shut, her breathing suddenly labored when she sees the truth-there's shrapnels of jagged mirror stuck in her flesh. Finn's touch is wearing off, so she has to focus on his eyes, only his eyes, to keep herself from crying out in pain. "Damn Overtakers," Finn murmurs, and it's all Charlene can take to stop herself from laughing, even though she has a feeling she's a little giddy in pain. "I've got to help you with this; one sec…"

She had been running through the Haunted Mansion, hopping from Doom Buggy to Doom Buggy, trying to catch up to Finn and Maybeck in the distance, all three separated from the others when the pirates had them in hot pursuit. Charlene had toppled into a buggy, thinking that she was safe, until the vehicles passed in front of the ghost hitchhiker mirrors. The pirate's leader had used his swords to shatter one, probably an attempt to scare her, or maybe just scratch her, she hadn't expected so many shards to stick into her arms protecting her head.

"Finn?"

"Yeah?"

"It hurts really good," Charlene murmurs, not sure if she's smiling, or crying, or if her arms are even bleeding anymore, everything's lost in a hurricane around her, but Finn's eyes are the peaceful eye of the storm. Slowly, her head flops backwards, and she's floating, through a dark sea of unconsciousness. Still, she's vaguely aware of her nerves tingling as he pulls mirror shards from her flesh, one by one, bandaging each wound.

All too soon, Charlene wakes up, to find Finn smoothing the last bandage over her arm, a pile of bloody mirror shrapnels next to his knee. "Where'd you get the Band-Aids?" she whispered, wishing she was able to move her arm, so she could rub her temples. Finn points over to a building that provides a day care service for infants, and gently bends each finger, to make sure they're still working. "Finn? Thanks a lot for this."

"Hey, it's no problem," he replies, as Charlene shakes her head, only succeeding in knotting up her faintly blood-flecked blond hair, shakily reaching the arm that hurts the least up to him. Before she has time to control her faltering muscle strength, Finn is so close to her, she can hear his heart beating, one, two, three, in perfect harmony with her own. And it all hurts so badly, she presses her lips against his, and it feels like she's exploding into memory and guilt and amazing fireworks that only she can see.

There's silence, eerie silence, as Charlene tries to blink her tears back, even though she knows they had to be visible in the moonlight, hearing the distant chatter of the other Keepers. She closes her eyes, hearing a faint snap, and she knows that Finn has broken one of the bloody pieces of mirror in half. "I can't-"

"I'm sorry Char, it's just not going to happen."

0o0

The day Finn and Amanda break up surpasses all of Charlene's definitions of "best day ever" as she watches them fight, their voices raising, until they fill her ears, knowing that she must be smiling deliriously with pleasure. She watches Amanda storm out, and sits there staring at Finn, who has his head in his hands, and her fingers tentatively brush against his, not as a "move" but just a sign of comfort, support. "It'll be okay."

"Will it?" he murmurs, as Charlene sighs, peeling back one of her fading bandages, revealing a rather nasty looking scab, with crusted blood sticking the cotton underside of the Band-Aid. She wants to do something, pretend that everything is okay, but she secretly desires to kiss him again. "I thought she was, like, my soul mate, and now that she won't ever talk to me again."

Charlene's lips brush his cheek tenderly, and tears fill both of their eyes; Finn turns to her, watching as she breathes shakily, focusing on her eyes. They aren't exotic like Amanda's, but glittery, like stars in deep space, or maybe the ocean that froths beneath the peacock surface and above the black, crushing bottom. Could they really be something, like he had almost been with Amanda? "Char?"

"Yes?"

"Can we take it…slow?"

She has to hide her smile behind her hands, as he leans back in his chair, taking a deep breath, waiting for her to answer. Charlene stands up, living in the moment: it wasn't the heart-gouging answer she had been expecting if she asked, or the tear-jerking realization that they truly couldn't be. "As slow as you want," she breaths, and giggles softly, because she can see what's going to happen next…

_Happily ever after? Not necessarily…Finn can't afford a castle, and Charlene realizes coach service if much more expensive then the rates Cinderella's Fairy Godmother got…_

_But they go sky-diving._

**The ending? I don't know, kind of cheesy, but I've been converted to Finn/Charlene, and I'm not going back, I just love them now! (SCREW AMANDA!) Wait, that was a little harsh, she just kind of seems annoying now that I'm reading the third book. Okay, enough ranting, leave a review! **


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